6 Steps toward a Better Voice

1. Control Your Breathing

Breath control is essential for healthy and effective speaking. Breathing from your diaphragm allows for you to:

relax

deliver emotional content

improve the quality of your delivery.

2. Master Your Volume

Volume should be at a reasonable level. If you are:

Too loud: tone down.

Too soft: use breath support — focus tone in front of you and articulate.

3. Establish a Comfortable Rate

A comfortable rate (or speed) of speaking is approximately 150 words per minute. If you speak too fast, slow down-pauses are very powerful. If you speak too slowly, practice developing a faster pace.

4. Vary Your Musical Pitch

Using your entire vocal range through variance in pitch adds interest and personality to your voice. To improve your pitch, practice “siren sounds.” Start on a different note each time you do them.

5. Articulate

Articulation is necessary so that your words can be understood regardless of your speed or forcefulness. Exercises to improve articulation include: use of the facial muscles, dropping the jaw, emphasizing vowels, and emphasizing consonants at the ends of your words.

6. Practice Excellent Voice Quality

Voice Quality is how pleasing your voice is to listen to. Proper breathing and use of the resonators will add richness to your voice. To improve your quality, place the sound in your inner mouth area, not your throat or nose. Also, hum with you mouth closed, teeth apart, to feel the buzz in the front of your face.

Gaining an objective opinion and professional advice on your voice can be priceless. Contact Radiant Communications for information on comprehensive, personal voice coaching sessions.